[arin-ppml] ARIN-2013-4: RIR Principles / Request for General Thoughts

[Owen DeLong]

> Simply, better liquidity no.  If there is sufficient liquidity for the market to function reasonably, without completely abandoning documented need, then I wouldn't want to abandon documented need.  If there is insufficient liquidity for the market to function reasonably, then I would consider even completely abandoning documented need.

I do not believe that sufficient liquidity can be sustained (if it can even be established at all) regardless of policy changes with respect to needs basis.

It's simple math. There are far more devices requiring unique addresses than there are addresses in IPv4. Liquidity in a transfer market is a measure of the speed at which we are rearranging the deck chairs.

> So, I'm willing to see radical changes, but not completely abandoning documented need unless the market can't function, which I'm skeptical is the case.

The market cannot function on a sustained basis. Belief that it can is as fallacious as belief that IPv4 is sustainable.

We should not be looking at the transfer market as a solution for sustaining IPv4. We should be looking at it as a temporary band-aid enacted to facilitate the movement of a few underutilized resources to places where they can achieve better utilization.

>>> I think there are even higher principle that we should be considering, such
>>> as.
>>> 
>>> - All Internet users (or consumers) and devices connected to the Internet
>>> are entitled to unique internet number resource assigned to them from a
>>> network operator.
>>> 
>>> - Network operators, public or private, are entitled to unique Internet
>>> number resource from the Internet Registry System to connect users (or
>>> consumers) and devices to the Internet.
>> 
>> Are these not matters of network infrastructure policy outside ARIN's scope?
> 
> Maybe the first one is, but if the second one is then why does the registry even exist?
> 

A better question is "If operators are entitled to unique IPv4 addresses for these purposes, how do we cope with the fact that there simply are not enough of them."

The use of the word entitled in this context is problematic with respect to IPv4 and simply cannot be sustained. I would agree that it is true with respect to IPv6 and is the key role of the RIR system.

> Put another way;
> 
> Internet Users get addresses from Network operators, network operators get address from the registry to service customers.  As an end user, if you operate a network you can get addresses from the registry, and your customers are internal.

Other than taking issue with the idea that all network operators are commercial entities providing service only to customers (there are a number of other kinds of network operators), I would generally agree with this.

Owen